Injuries may result from the collision of a person with a non-yielding object, either a moving object (a vehicle or another person), or a stationary object (a wall, a barrier, tree, etc.), or the impact of a projectile, such as a bullet. Thus, the protective garment of the present invention may be used as protective gear for various sports, especially those where protection from high speeds or high-impact collisions is important, such as skiing, motorcycle racing, motorcross, auto racing, and flying private planes, or non-athletic activities which tend to produce injuries.
Many types of protective equipment have been directed toward protecting the user from shock-related injury resulting from contact with other participants, sports equipment, or the ground.
For example, various protective pads for different parts of the body are common in the art. U.S. Pat. No. 4,484,360 discloses a padded shin guard comprising a dense polyurethane shell padded with polyurethane foam; U.S. Pat. No. 4,486,901 discloses a multi-layered shock-absorbing structure with an air-impermeable shell surrounding an assembly of three open-celled foams. U.S. Pat. No. 4,484,361 discloses fitted elbow and knee pads of the same materials. Energy-absorbing elastomers and compositions are also disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,101,704, 4,346,205, and 4,476,258. Other forms of protective clothing include protective articles for the torso, such as available-pressure rib cage pad in U.S. Pat. No. 4,370,754, an athletic padded garment as shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,577,346, a body protective vest as disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,302,847, and various chest protectors common to both football and baseball. Fully protective body suits are also known in the art.
Improvements in available materials, however, make it possible to improve the protection, just as higher speeds in many sports increase the dangers.
Therefore, an important object of the present invention is to provide an improved protective combination.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a segmented interconnected protective body suit offering improved protection for the whole body.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a segmented protective body suit that can be folded, carried, or stored and is simple in structure.